Ruby and Lucy Day walked out of Catalina High School on Tuesday afternoon each clutching their signs: “Melt ICE” and “ICE melts fast here.”
The identical twins met their mom, Emily, down Pima Street.
The “How was your day?” chatter focused only on the end of the school day when they joined over 200 other students outside on the Catalina High X patio — in conjunction with thousands of students around Tucson and the nation — for a walk-out to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and Trump administration policies.
“We just want everyone’s rights to be equal and no one be taken away from their families,” Ruby, a junior, said.
“Yeah, we’re all humans. It seems simple, right? We all live on the same planet,” Lucy, 16, said, noting the special diversity at Catalina which has more than 35 nationalities represented in the student body.
A recent survey sent to Catalina families included QR codes for six different languages, including Somali, Arabic, Spanish and Kinyarwanda.
Students and teachers said at least half the Catalina student body of about 500 students showed up Tuesday afternoon. Once outside, a dozen student speakers stood on tables and shouted into microphones.
Across town at Pueblo High School, students filtered out from classrooms onto South 12th Avenue, holding signs.
“If you’d ever wondered what you’d do during slavery, the holocaust or the civil rights movement, you’re doing it RIGHT NOW,” one read in blue and red letters on a white sheet of paper.
In midtown, Rincon and University High students made their way across baseball and softball fields north to the intersection of Swan Road and Fifth Street — inside the school fence.
“Hey. Hey. Ho. Ho. I-C-E has got to go,” they shouted.
One wore a Mexican flag as a cape. They walked next to a sign reading “Liberty and Justice for all — until you speak Spanish.”
“Abolish ICE. Keep families together,” dominated the RUHS signage.
At Tucson High School, about 600 students walked out and received an unexcused absence. “The participating students were very respectful, responsive, and were monitored by dozens of adults while they participated in this event,” principal Jon Lansa said in an email to families.
Administrators at five Tucson Unified School District high schools and the Sunnyside Unified School District notified families via email about the walkout — focusing on safety, remaining on campus, communication about the issues and unexcused absences.
“We are writing to you to address the potential participation of some students in a school walk-out to demonstrate against current federal immigration enforcement actions in schools and in support of their immigrant peers and families. Although this is not a district or school sponsored event, we recognize that our students and families have passionate views on this issue and have a right to express those views,” read part of an emailed letter to TUSD families from Superintendent Gabriel Trujillo.
To better understand students’ concerns and expectations, Arizona Luminaria attended walk-outs and talked to students, parents and educators as they departed school on Tuesday. Here’s some of what they said:
“I feel like the walkout is supportive, man. All the stuff that’s basically going around all the community, they’re picking up people, breaking their windows, breaking the law, not showing their faces, not identifying themselves. I just think it’s wrong. My family — they’re also scared, too, scared being Hispanic nowadays. But any race, Asian, Native American, it’s not just Hispanics. The thing about Catalina is, it’s a mix: Middle Eastern, Africans, Hispanics. It’s just a mix of everything.
— Caleb Aguilar, 15 year-old Catalina sophomore and Tucson native
“As a mom, I have always been supportive of my children’s decisions, because rather than overprotect them, we as parents have to empower them, stand up for their beliefs and always to speak up when there are injustices in our community and the most oppressed. In Solidarity!!!
— Maria Caldera, Educator and Catalina High mom of Emiliano Caldera
“It’s a lot of the political climate right now. I have to assume that it is boiling over onto the students. So, the only thing I can assume is that kids don’t get what they need. Whether that’s therapy or food or whatever because they’re acting out a lot lately.
— Emily Day, Catalina High parent of Lucy and Ruby Day
“We’re here to say ICE is fing stupid and it’s killed American people and we have a right to be angry.”
— Ali Al Kinani, University High School junior class president
“Makes me feel like being silent is not an option. … My parents supported me (walking out) because this is also affecting them, if not more than it’s affecting me. But I know a lot of other students didn’t have the support of their parents and decided to do it anyway, because I think they believe what they believe, you know?
— Jonah Plemons, University High junior
I’m lucky to have the support of my family, my friends. But I’m really proud of all the students who came here on their own accord. Like to use their voices without that support.
— Charlotte Wright, University High junior
“This walk-out is important so students know what is going on here in this country and get informed, because many schools hide politics away from regular curriculum. Also because our school is made up of a lot of immigrants that are not from this country and have different backgrounds, which shows how us, as a school, should be there for each other. To me, it means a lot because I was the one that organized this and I did get ideas from other high schools like Rincon, Tucson High, Pueblo and Sunnyside. But it definitely means a lot, because I am Mexican-American and the students were there to fight for our rights, even if they weren’t Mexican-American or immigrants to this country. Also having a lot of them speak out for what’s going wrong, shows how as community we could take action for what’s unjust.
— Emiliano Caldera, Catalina High School senior and walk-out organizer
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